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Monthly Archives: March 2014

It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon here and I thought I’d take a picture of my quilt in progress. The colors are so beautiful in the sunlight!

I’ve had so much time to sit on the couch, and I’m trying to do something useful, so I picked up some fabric I had cut and had never had time to sew together. It’s the first large quilt I have ever hand pieced, but it’s coming right along! Another week and I’ll be ready to put on the border pieces.

I’m going to hand quilt each of the hexagons with intertwined hearts and the quilt is going to hang on the wall in our home. If it all goes well, I may even enter it in the fair!

One week, I sail through the infusion with no problems – in and out in 6 hours. Another week, I have 3 separate allergic reactions and wind up sitting there for 10 hours. Same drugs, same dosage.

One month, the pills I take give me a rash. The next month, the rash goes away but I’m plagued with nausea and intestinal issues. My eyes turn bright red, then they clear up but my vision goes blurry.

The only constant is the fatigue – the overwhelming, ever-present fatigue. We’re not just talking about being tired. We’re talking about waking up in the morning so tired that getting out of bed requires you to stop and take a break. Recovering from a shower can take a couple of hours. Fixing a meal, doing the laundry, running errands – probably not going to happen at all.

And then there’s that wonderful break – once a month I get a week where I take no drugs at all. The first part of that week, the drugs are still in my system, but by the weekend I usually feel pretty good! I can run errands, joke with my family, make dinner, fold my laundry – all the things I used to take for granted.

Then Sunday evening rolls around and I face the fact that I start treatment again tomorrow. Back to the hospital for another infusion. Tuesday I start the pills again. Off on another round. Maybe this time I won’t be so exhausted? Maybe this time my stomach will behave? Maybe this month it will all be different than what it has been… I can probably count on that.

The treatments are working! My scans are good, my blood tests are good, and the treatments are going to give me a better quality of life (we hope) when they are all done. I’ve reached the halfway point – three months gone, three months to go. I know I can make it through this. I have a wonderful, supportive family to help me. But sometimes I sure get tired of being tired.

Gratitude –
cancer treatments that work
my wonderful nurses and doctors who listen to me
my darling husband who takes such good care of me
animals in the house that make me laugh and give me a reason to get out of bed
my close vision is clear so that I can still read, sew, and knit
my online friends who provide me with information and inspiration
my stash of fabric and yarn that ensures I NEVER run out of projects
all of you for reading my blog

Around here, March wasn’t sure which animal to emulate as it arrived. We’ve had rain, sun, fog… everything but snow. Today we woke up to a beautiful morning – sunny, bright, warm, no wind – and by noon the clouds had rolled in and we had to turn on lights in the house. By 4:00 it was raining and cold and we had to close the windows. Fortunately, living right on the ocean as we do, we’re used to sudden changes in the weather. So we spent the morning outside, going to garage sales and doing yard work and I spent the afternoon on the couch. Crafting, of course!

I’ve been hand-piecing 18 quilt blocks and have decided on their placement in the quilt, but before I get started sewing them together, I decided to get some baby gifts made. So I’ve been watching “Dr. Who” and hand sewing baby things. Baby things are so much fun to make! They require very little in the way of materials and come together so quickly! (All the seams are short.) They’re a great way to use up smaller scraps, too. Surely you have some scraps hanging around your house! Pull them out and see what you can make. A preemie quilt only has to be 14″ square. Bibs, hats, booties – they all take less than 1/2 yard of fabric. You can even make use of your ribbon, lace, and rick rack scraps to decorate them. It’s a real stash buster! And it’s a great way to try a new technique before committing to a major project.

The same holds true for knitting and crocheting. Baby washcloths, burp cloths, and blankets let you try new stitches and patterns and you don’t have to worry about your gauge before you start! Just grab some baby-friendly yarn and start stitching!

I’ll be posting pictures of both the quilt blocks and the baby things soon. I’m really excited about how well the quilt is looking!